Technical+services+award

Together with [|3M], TSIG sponsored an annual award recognizing achievement in technical services.


 * Award Winners**

__2009: University of Prince Edward Island Robertson Library__ The 2009 CLA/3M Award for Outstanding Achievement in Technical Services was awarded to the University of Prince Edward Island Robertson Library for its ”Open Sourcing the Serials Workflow" project. In June of 2008, the Library became the first academic library to adopt the open source Evergreen ILS. The move was accomplished over a period of five weeks. Evergreen had no management system for serials so when the MARC records from the former commercial ILS were loaded into Evergreen, the holdings statements could not be transferred with them. To solve the problem, the staff turned to CUFTS, the open source serials management system developed by Simon Fraser University. The CUFTS/GODOT system was designed for electronic serials and Robertson needed something that could manage both electronic and print serials. They added their electronic collections and then worked with Simon Fraser to add the print. Staff extracted the MARC format holdings data from the former ILS, creating a custom table of 7,114 print records. Minor changes were made to the data structure of CUFTS to accommodate print serials including all the appropriate details, including holdings and location information. The result for the public was a single merged journal list of print and electronic journals. Further, with the implementation of the CUFTS OpenURL resolver, the public was able to easily determine the availability of electronic content as well as the availability of hard copy. This final phase of the CUFTS/GODOT implementation also informed the public if an InterLibrary loan would be necessary to obtain the article. The changes have resulted in a simpler work flow as well as the removal of MARC records for all journals from the catalogue. The Library has been able to piggyback on the authority work done by CUFTS. Some time has been saved and is being used to take on the management of some of the core title lists in CUFTS. For example, Robertson Library will be assisting with maintenance of the list of electronic Canadian government document serials for CUFTS and in the future they will also maintain additional title lists. Staff have been learning new skills and taking satisfaction from the fact that their work is benefiting not just Robertson Library but also on open source ecosystem for the benefit of all.

__2007: Kingston Frontenac Public Library__ The 2007 CLA/3M Award for Outstanding Achievement in Technical Services was awarded to the Kingston Frontenac Public Library (KFPL) for its project called “RFP Application Mashup”. The RFP application allows users to suggest purchasing materials by using a simple form on the library’s website. KFPL used 2 mashups to facilitate these requests by allowing the user to use make a request even with the most minimal amount of information and, at the same time, increase the accuracy of the contact and bibliographic information needed to process the requests.

__2006: University of Western Ontario Libraries__ For a project to streamline acquisitions by using the Z39.50 protocol to instantly obtain quality bibliographic records. Western worked in partnership with Coutts Information Services to improve the workflow by allowing staff to search the vendor’s database for ordering and bibliographic information in one step which resulted in reducing a four-day process into a one-day process.

__2005: Corporation des Recteurs et Principaux des Universités du Québec (CREPUQ)__ For its Projet TRAP (Traitement Partagé -- Shared Cataloguing), an innovative approach to cost-sharing and providing equitable access to the consortia-purchased electronic resources amongst the CREPUQ 18 university libraries members and for setting a standard for cataloguing products in the French language and by giving free access to both documentation and the project design to other organizations who can adapt the project and the documentation to their particular needs.

__2004: Library and Archives Canada Metadata Services__ The TSIG Award Committee voted unanimously to award the 2004 CLA/3M Canada Award for Achievement in Technical Services to Library and Archives Canada Metadata Services for the development of a metadata service. Pascal Roberge, representing 3M Canada, presented Deane Zeeman, Metadata Projects Coordinator in the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Services Branch at LAC, with a plaque and a cheque for $1000. The plaque was inscribed: “In recognition of their innovative approach to assisting external partners in describing web resources for Internet portals.”

__2003: University of Alberta__ The Technical Services Interest Group of the Canadian Library Association has awarded the 2003 CLA/3M Canada Award for Achievement in Technical Services to the University of Alberta in recognition of their cost-effective and well-designed Electronic Journals Database.

The Database, currently containing more than 10,000 titles and growing on a daily basis, is the result of a Team Project involving staff from both Technical Services and Information Technology Services. It provides exact correspondence between e-journals listed in the catalogue and in the e-journals list and also a link from the e-journals list to the catalogue. The major achievement of the Database is the elimination of duplicate maintenance of the catalogue and the e-journals list. The Database does not require manual updating; it is automatically repopulated daily with new extracts of catalogue data.

The University of Alberta will be presented with a $1,000 cheque from 3M Canada by 3M Canada representative Pascal Roberge, the 3M Information and Material Security Department Sales and Marketing Manager, and a certificate of achievement from CLA at the Annual General Meeting of the Technical Services Interest Group on June 21st, 2003 during the ALA/CLA Toronto conference.

__2002: University of Calgary Library__ In recognition of the innovative redesign of its Collections & Technical Services (CTS) staff and work space.

The University of Calgary Library embarked upon an ambitious redesign project to create a modern, pleasant, and safe work environment for the Collections and Technical Services operations and its staff. The ultimate aim was to meet current and future space, functional, technical, environmental, and ergonomic standards. Through exemplary project management, administrative support, library wide public relations, and an impressive degree of staff involvement and consultation, the redesign & upgrade process has clearly succeeded in significantly improving workplace ergonomics, quality, workflow, and processing efficiencies, while significantly raising the profile of the CTS operation, and, perhaps most significantly, has positively influenced staff morale and comfort.

Mary McConnell, Director of Bibliographic Services, was presented with a $1,000 cheque from 3M Canada by 3M Canada representative Pascal Roberge, the new 3M Library Systems Project Manager, and a certificate of achievement from CLA at the Annual General Meeting of the Technical Services Group on June 20th 2002 during the CLA Halifax conference.

__2001: Simon Fraser University Library__ For the development of an electronic journal database.

Simon Fraser developed a centralized database of records for electronic journals which they maintain separate from the OPAC. When changes are required, the records are exported, edited, and re-exported into the OPAC. Simon Fraser uses a multiple record approach for ejournals. Development of the database streamlined the work of rapid updating large numbers of records, tracking usage, and allowing access to ejournals with passwords. Using their ej database, they can do patron authentification for the 10 passworded titles included in their current collection of 3,000. Todd and Mark used MS SQL to create the database, however they feel that any database software can be used. The ability to a web form that patrons can use to search is of special note. The form created by SF includes information from the 245, 246, subject fields and the 110 and 710. In some cases, their records indicate holdings. A field is also recorded to inform ILL staff whether an article can be reproduced (photocopied or downloaded) for ILL purposes.

__1999: Advanced Education Media Acquisitions Centre (AEMAC), located at Langara College, Vancouver, B.C.__ For the implementation of their [|B.C. Cataloguing Standard for Videorecordings].

The goal of the project was to establish a provincial standard for media cataloguing, and to provide catalogue copy from a common source. The standard was developed by the B.C. Cataloguing Committee under the coordination of the AEMAC Media Librarian. AEMAC has retrospectively enhanced its records for videotapes purchased through the provincial purchasing plan to meet the new standard. These records are available for downloading through Z39.50 and the Dynix WebPac catalogue. This provides AEMAC's users, 28 provincial colleges, institutes and universities, with cost effective catalogue records for materials which would otherwise often require original cataloguing, and paves the way for the production of a union catalogue of media holdings in British Columbia.

__1998: Vancouver Public Library__ For the serials information workshops entitled "So what's the big deal about serials?"

Conversion to online serials control had resulted in an information gap amongst VPL staff about serials concepts and procedures, which was requiring lots of time consuming one-on-one training. The information sessions were prepared and presented jointly by the Head of the Catalogue Division and the Head of the Newspapers and Magazines Division, an effective combination of Public Services and Technical Services strengths. The series of 10 sessions was attended by a total of 200 staff at all levels in all divisions.

__1997: Halifax Public Library__ For their Technical Services and Systems Amalgamation Project.

As a result of the municipal amalgamation, the Dartmouth Regional Library, the Halifax County Library, and the Halifax City Regional Library were merged into one system. To form the new department, staff were interviewed and appointed, new facilities prepared, existing departments moved to new quarters, a new automated system was installed, the records from the three former libraries converted and merged to form a single database, collections barcoded, collections converted to a standard call number system, policies and procedures developed, subscriptions coordinated, a new fund structure implemented and database cleanup begun. All this was accomplished between April 1996 and March 1997 while maintaining regular services. An honourable mention also goes to the Ottawa Public Library for their project to harness internet technology in cataloguing their books and materials. Using DRA Net to capture existing bibliographic and authority records from the central database at DRA's headquarters and from fellow DRAGON members, allowed OPL to modify workflow so that cataloguers search their own material, downloading and cataloguing online. This has resulted in faster throughput, increased productivity and reduced utility costs.

__1995: North York Public Library__ For a project to establish open DRA NET.

This included streamlining in-house cataloguing, overhauling cataloguing and computer services, eliminating their backlog and achieving a 30% reduction in staff costs in technical services.

__1994: Computer Operations Unit of the Technical Services Department at the Regina Public Library__ For researching, planning and implementing a Workstation Ergonomics Programme.

__1993: The Bibliographic Processing Department of the Chancellor Paterson Library at Lakehead University__ For its retrospective conversion of 306,000 records over a 6 year period ending in 1993, and the introduction of innovative processing procedures while introducing the multiLIS system. The project met its goals of completing retrospective conversion of 300,000 monographs and 6,000 trade serials, while maintaining current cataloguing and implementing a new integrated library system. Streamlined procedures for processes such as barcoding were devised. Processing turn-around time was reduced from 60 to 48 days with a complementary increase in throughput achieved by the integration of ordering and cataloguing, which allowed most of the operation to be completed at the time of order, and all in-process records to be available for patrons and rush requests.